2nd Annual Bay Area Walk Against Genocide

Sunday April 29, 2012Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

We will gather at the band shell (0.25 miles from the intersection of Grand and Bellevue Avenues, immediately southeast of "Fairyland", and directly across from the Lakeside Park Garden Center at 666 Bellevue Avenue).Volunteers and signs will direct you. Map

Doyle Drive (linking San Francisco & Marin) will be closed on Sunday. Please check whether you should allow some additional travel time over the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, Bay Bridge, and/or Routes 580 and 80. Both BART and AC transit have stops at Lake Merritt Park.

Please dress in layers, bring a sunhat or other head covering, sunscreen, and water.

April is Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month. The 2nd Annual Bay Area Walk Against Genocide is our way to take part. Hundreds of people walked including genocide survivors, community leaders, students and neighbors for a day of reflection, speeches, advocacy training, and a collective walk around Lake Merritt.

In 2010, the California State Legislature proclaimed April of each year Genocide Awareness and Prevention Month (Assembly Concurrent Resolution). The State Legislature chose April because several 20th century genocides, from the Armenian genocide to Cambodia and Bosnia, are commemorated during that month. California is the first state in the nation to declare a Genocide Prevention Month, making April 2011 a historic month for California, and for the nation.

The 2011 Walk Against Genocide was the first Bay Area event to implement the new resolution. The Walk is our chance to publicly show our support for the victims of these conflicts, walk in solidarity with genocide survivors, hear their stories, and learn how awareness and effective action can prevent future atrocities from taking place.

Why Walking Matters

Violators of human rights want nothing more than for the public to remain silent in the face of those violations. Through silence, the pathway for continuing those violations stands free and clear. When you walk against genocide, you demonstrate to local, national and world leaders that the people of the Bay Area will not look away in the face of past, current and future genocides and mass atrocities. When you walk, you send a message to perpetrators of genocide that here in the Bay Area, we will not be silent.

Genocide Is Not Just An International Story. It's A Local Story.

Survivors of mass atrocities live among us right here in the Bay Area. Our community is home to Jews, Sudanese, Armenians, Cambodians, Rwandans and many other survivors and descendants of victims of genocides. The Bay Area Walk Against Genocide gives you, your friends, your family and your children a unique opportunity to meet them, hear their stories, and learn how we can all make a difference by getting more involved.

Here are some of the genocide survivors and their descendents you will meet at the walk:

* Ann is walking to support victims in Rwanda, where she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in 1978.

* Stewart, the son of refugees from Hitler's Germany, is walking to raise awareness about the continuing horrors of genocide.

* Stacey is walking to raise awareness about the human rights abuses and genocide happening right now in Sudan.

* Shivvy, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide, is walking to raise awareness about the genocide that took place there.

* Martina is walking to create the political will to prevent future genocides in honor of her ancestors who perished in the Holocaust.

Take One Sunday Out Of The Year, And Walk Against Genocide.

Join us in raising the visibility and voices of survivors and descendants of past genocides, supporting our youth activists, growing a community of annual walkers, raising funds for ongoing services to conflict-affected civilians, and advocating to end and prevent genocide. Start a team, bring your children, walk with your family, or join a group of individuals dedicated to this cause.

The San Francisco Bay Area Darfur Coalition is grateful for the in-kind donations made by:

Safeway on Grand Avenue in Oakland
Noahs Bagels on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland
Starbucks on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland
Lakeshore Produce on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland
Colonial Donuts on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland
Trader Joes on Lakeshore Avenue in Oakland